This is a modification for Jagged Alliance - Back in Action. This mod was made to work on top of the "Blue Dawn" mod. The Firearms Rebalanced Experiment aims to tweak everything weapon related to make the game more realistic and more fun.
The following noticable adjustments have been made:
- All weapons are realistically balanced.
- Weapons have a small increase in maximum range.
- AI can engage at twice the distance now, which results in less mindless rushing and more realistic firefights.
- Weapons do more damage. No more need to shoot someone dozen of times.
- High caliber rounds can penetrate armor easily at short range, but harder at distances.
- Weapons are not 100% accurate. The merc's skill is a lot more important now.
- Due to the above changes, cover plays a much bigger role. This results in gameplay more similar to JA2 or 7.62 High Caliber.
- Machineguns and snipers gain a large accuracy bonus when shooting from the prone position to simulate the use of bipods.
- The RPM settings represent how easy a weapon is to handle. All weapons are realistically balanced on handling (Thanks to Leon026!).
- The better a weapon handles (RPM), the easier it is to aim while standing.
- All stances, apart from running, are silent. You can now realistically walk around with your weapon raised.
- In running mode (F3), hip shooting has been replaced by semi-aiming snap shots. Snap shots are just as fast but more accurate.
- Some weapons are priced for their accuracy, while others are priced for their handling (RPM).
- The rocket rifles have been turned into realistic semi-automatic grenade launchers.
- IMP mod compatible!Not until IMP mod becomes compatible with the latest game version and BD mod.
And don't forget, this mod is an addon for the awesome Blue Dawn mod. I'll be keeping this mod up to date with their latest version.
Credits
Blue Dawn mod team for their awesome mod that is used as a base for this one.
Leon026 (from Jabia official forums) for the weapon RPM settings.
DEXTERCANE (from Jabia official forums) for helping making this mod compatible with the IMP mod.
Sbobovyc (from Jabia official forums) for his modding tools.
The game developers for the support they give to the community.
Jabia community for everything else.
Version History
Version 2.4 Stable
- Fixed the text in the game.
Version 2.3 Stable
- Updated to Blue Dawn version 0.4b. - Implemented Blue Dawn hotfix that fixes the shops. According to Blue Dawn, a new game is required. - Minor changes to the perception of enemies. - The price of the 40mm grenades has been doubled, as they were too cheap.
Version 2.2 Stable
- Updated to Blue Dawn version 0.4, compatible with game version 1.11. - Changed stats on new Blue Dawn weapons to make them in line with the rest of the arsenal. - Minor stat adjustments. - Warsaw Pact ammo is now less expensive compared to NATO ammo. This is to simulate the abundance of Warsaw Pact ammo.
- Reworked the launchers due to the changes the new game patch brings. --+ The LAW now fires anti-personnel rockets. --+ All grenade launchers now use the new 40mm grenade ammo, which is fired in an arc.
- Reworked the attachments. --+ The EOTech gives a large reaction time bonus. --+ The Red Dot gives a small reaction time bonus and a small accuracy bonus. --+ The ACOG gives a moderate accuracy bonus and a moderate reaction time penalty. --+ The Sniper Scope gives a large accuracy bonus and a large reaction time penalty. --+ The ACOG and Sniper Scope are now a lot more accurate, so this should make the snipers a bit more precise.
- Changed skill of enemies. --+ Reduced marksman skill of all enemies. This should make most enemies a little bit less accurate to compensate for their numbers and infinite ammo. --+ The higher level the enemy is, the better they can shoot and the further they can see. --+ Now there's a much larger difference between low and high level enemies. --+ This change makes most player mercs better than the initial low level enemy grunts. --+ Hopefully this will make for a more gradual difficulty curve.
- Redone the perception system. --+ Switched back to low (below 100) perception skill values. --+ Now, to adjust the view distance the new parameters are used that the game developers added in the recent patch. --+ Unalerted enemies have a small view cone similar to vanilla Jabia. --+ Alerted enemies have a more realistic view distance, they will see and shoot at you from much further (like it was before). --+ This means stealth is again possible, until you get compromised!
Click below for full history log:
Spoiler
Version 2.1 Stable
- Minor stat adjustments. - Fixed price of the SR25. - Changed price of a few weapons. - Slightly reduced sound levels of walking (AI only), opening doors and climbing ladders. - Kicking in doors animation has been replaced by a regular door opening animation.
- Redone perception stats. --+ Higher level mercs/enemies get more perception than lower level ones, which means they can fire from a longer range. --+ Perception is then further modified by the weapon used. Shotguns and pistols gain a penalty, rifles and machineguns gain a bonus.
Version 2.0 Stable
- Updated to Blue Dawn version 0.3. - Changed stats on new Blue Dawn weapons to make them in line with the rest of the arsenal. - Minor stat adjustments to a few weapons. - The blast zone of the Flashbang has been slightly increased, so that it can cover a medium sized room.
- Changed stats on silencers. --+ The pistol silencer now reduces the sound a bit more and slightly decreases the weapon accuracy to simulate the use of subsonic rounds. --+ The rifle silencers (CQB and specops kits) do reduced silencing due to lack of subsonic bullets.
- Made changes concerning perception to prepare for the upcoming fog of war patch. --+ Fixed Perception level of some NPCs. --+ All mercs now have a Perception level of 200, just like the NPCs. --+ The new Perception level will allow your mercs, in Gaurd Mode, to fire at the enemy from the same distance the enemy can fire at you.
- Redone the grenade launchers / AT launcher. --+ Missile ammo is now called 40mm grenade ammo. --+ The rocket rifles are now renamed to the QLZ87-family grenade launchers and have their stats changed to more realistic values. --+ A side effect of this is that the LAW now fires 40mm grenades. But that's still more realistic than the grenade launchers firing missiles.
- Applied changes that will hopefully reduce the amount of grenade spam that some people experience. --+ Reduced the chances that enemies will spawn with grenades. --+ The throwing distance of enemies has been reduced.
Version 1.9 Stable
- DEXTERCANE helped fixing two bugs in characters.txt, making this mod compatible with the IMP mod.
Version 1.8 Stable
- Minor stat adjustments to a few weapons. - In the weapon descriptions, the text "rate of fire" has been replaced by "handling".
- Reworked the stats of the shotguns. --+ Changed all stats of the shotguns to more realistic values. --+ Made it so that the RPM gap between the different shotguns is a little bit smaller, making them all more useful in combat.
Version 1.7 Stable
- Minor stat adjustments to a few weapons.
- All weapons now do more damage over distance. --+ This mostly affects rifle cartridges, they can now damage enemies at the maximum distance at which the AI engages. --+ Note that when weapons fire beyond their maximum range, they do reduced damage. --+ At some point they will do virtually no damage at all, especially against body armor. --+ This should resolve the difficulty of shooting distant enemies.
- Hip shooting animation has been replaced by an aiming animation. --+ In running mode (F3), you now make snap shots from an aiming posture. Snap shots are a bit more accurate. --+ CQB is now fun again. But remember, the enemy now uses snap shots too!
Version 1.6 Stable
- Updated to Blue Dawn version 0.2. - Changed stats on new Blue Dawn weapons to make them in line with the rest of the arsenal. - Minor stat adjustments, mostly realism based. - Fixed M27 IAR. Due to a typo it did only 4 damage.
- Rebalanced the price of weapons. --+ Price is based on accuracy and handling. --+ Some weapons are priced for their accuracy, while others are priced for their handling (RPM).
Version 1.5 Stable
- Reviewed the stats (damage, accuracy, max range) of some weapons and made minor adjustments to them. - Weapons capable of burst-fire have increased durability to stop them from breaking down too fast. - Increased penetration of high caliber cartridges to make them more lethal against body armor.
- Redone the burst stats to more realistic values. --+ Removed burst from weapons that are not capable of it. --+ Weapons that have burst in real life, they now use it ingame as well. --+ Weapons that only have full auto, the amount they fire depends on the control of the recoil.
- Implemented a new RPM system that was originally made by "Leon026" from the official Jabia forums. --+ Made some small adjustments to some of those RPM settings. --+ RPM settings are based on different factors, like the size, weight, weapon design. --+ The new RPM settings resemble weapon handling, as they directly affect the weapon times.
- Redone the stance system. Here's everything you need to know: --+ All weapons can be fired accurately from crouch/prone stances. --+ Hip firing is more accurate to resemble snap shooting. (Shooting animation will change once we know how) --+ Accuracy while standing and snap shooting depends on the weapon RPM settings. Higher RPM equals a lower accuracy penalty. --+ Snipers and machineguns gain a bonus when going prone to simulate the use of a bipod.
Version 1.4 Stable
- Made minor adjustments to the stats of some weapons due to the new engagement range. - Sound noise levels reduced to compensate for the AI's new perception levels. - Reduced the noise levels for opening doors, running, walking and crouching. - Crawling, crouching and walking (with gun raised) all reduce your sound to the minimum. - Gave 9mm pistols and SMGs a small boost in damage, so that they are more effective against unarmored opponents.
Version 1.4 Beta 1
- Adjusted the 'Perception' attribute of NPCs, including enemies. Now firefights will happen up to roughly 100 meters.
Version 1.3
- Ported to the Blue Dawn mod. - Made adjustments to the new Blue Dawn weapons, so that they're realistically in line with the rest of the weapons. - Made minor adjustments to the damage properties of some SMGs. - Increased/decreased price of two SMGs according to their handling. - Redone the armor penetration properties of bullets, its basically the same but easier to read.
- Switched to new stance system. --+ The smaller the weapon, the easier it is to aim while standing. Heavy and long weapons are harder to aim with while standing. --+ The smallest weapons of their class can be aimed while standing just as good as when prone. --+ Most weapons can be aimed crouched just as good as when prone. Only snipers and machineguns gain a large advantage when shooting from prone positions.
Version 1.2
- Made some SMGs more durable, as they broke down way too fast. - Made machineguns more durable. - Made minor adjustments to some weapons, for realism sake. - Now all guns should be realistically balanced against each other.
Version 1.1
- Made all weapon damage values a bit more realistic (considering the ammo/weapon type, etc). - Damage changes are mostly artificial, though. - Made minor adjustments to pistol and SMG max range. - Drastically reduced spread on all pistols.
Version 1
- Initial Release. - Used R@S Mod Version 10c as a base. - Made adjustments to ammo piercing values. - Made adjustments to all weapons damage and max range settings. - Gave all weapons a bit of random spread.
Cool, I like the idea of this mod. I haven't been able to play much the last few days but I'm eager to try this and Leon026's mod, and compare (been using Connor's mod already).
Thanks for informing us of the changes this makes to the core weapons!
And Connor, I'm sure some weapons just get lost in the process
New version has been released. First post updated with new info.
Why does the AKSU-74 do more damage then pretty much all the other 5.56mm rifles in the game? It has about the shortest barrel in the game.
That is a very good question... Fixed!
Cool, I like the idea of this mod. I haven't been able to play much the last few days but I'm eager to try this and Leon026's mod, and compare (been using Connor's mod already).
Thanks for informing us of the changes this makes to the core weapons!
And Connor, I'm sure some weapons just get lost in the process
Don't forget to give some feedback after you try it. I'm especially looking for feedback on the following two things:
1. How is the accuracy of the weapons? Too much? Too little?
2. How is the damage of the weapons? Too much? Too little?
Do not know how it was implemented in the game, but in general: high caliber = more power, but also high caliber = less penetration. After there is a lot of other parameter to take into account, but the FN5.7 and HK4.6 where developed around this principle (adding more energy to the mix to maintain an appropriate amount of damage).
Do not know how it was implemented in the game, but in general: high caliber = more power, but also high caliber = less penetration. After there is a lot of other parameter to take into account, but the FN5.7 and HK4.6 where developed around this principle (adding more energy to the mix to maintain an appropriate amount of damage).
Umm... Please compare a pistol round to a 50 cal and say that again. Even if you compare the caliber types you mentioned against a pistol round, you'll still see that what you said is not true, so I'm not sure what you mean. The whole point of the 5.7 and 4.6 calibers is increasing the accuracy and penetration properties of SMG sized weapons. Just google it.
What you said, it's actually the other way around. So maybe what you mean is that high caliber cartridges can overpenetrate, resulting in less stopping power. But in games such as this one, where you have to work with a basic hitpoint system, you cannot implement such features. It's already bad enough when the enemies happily shoot back at you after you shoot them in the face. That's why we simply stick to the basic rule of: Higher caliber = more penetration and stopping power. So that when we shoot the enemy, the enemy will act in the most realistic fashion this game allows, they die.
Also, new version will be out today, fixing some minor realism issues concerning the handling of the weapons.
Version 1.2 released. All the guns should be realistically balanced now, so the gun portion is mostly done.
Next up, I'm going to tweak the stances a bit. Makes little sense that shooting while standing and carefully taking aim is considered inaccurate. So I'm going to review that and see what the best way is to change the stances.
Currently, I'm thinking about making it so that stances have little effect on the accuracy. This will make changing stance less about gaining accuracy and more about taking cover, trying to avoid getting shot. Prone will still give a tiny accuracy boost. For long rifles and machineguns, prone will give a higher boost, as they should be a bit harder to aim with without fixing the gun or using a bipod.
Check first post for version 1.3 of the Firearms Rebalanced Experiment.
The Blue Dawn mod just got released. I checked it out and liked everything about it except for the way the weapons work. I decided not to go with the long ranges of the guns due to the problems it brings for the AI. The AI can't handle such long ranges, they always run towards you to engage at closer range because that's how they've been programmed. So if you can shoot at them from miles away while they cannot shoot back, it makes for a very easy game. In fact, it breaks the game, so I'll be sticking to the shorter ranges.
Anyway, due to the release of the Blue Dawn mod, I had to expedite the release of my new version, which means the new stance system has been added already. Basically it works like this:
- Small weapons get less penalties for shooting from the upright position.
- Larger/heavier weapons get more penalties for shooting from the upright position.
- Most weapons do not get an accuracy penalty for shooting from the crouched position.
- Sniper rifles and machineguns gain a bonus for shooting from the prone position, simulating the use of a bipod.
- The whole system is pretty clean because I don't have to rely on the stances to set the base accuracy of the guns. I set the accuracy directly at the weapon, which by the way you can also see in game to decide which weapon is more accurate.
If you want extremely long ranges on guns, you need to mod the effect of perception as well, so AI in their Guard mode can see you from afar and shoot at you using the full range too.
Gun range must be scaled to Perception more than anything else in the world, including real world gun stats.
If you want extremely long ranges on guns, you need to mod the effect of perception as well, so AI in their Guard mode can see you from afar and shoot at you using the full range too.
Gun range must be scaled to Perception more than anything else in the world, including real world gun stats.
I'll try that right now. But isn't there a maximum you can set on perception?
I noticed that when your mercs have maximum perception and they are set on guard mode, they start attacking enemies at the same range the enemy start attack you.
Someone modded PER to great values (10000?) to showcase the effects of it (guard mode cone is longer and wider for high values), so you could attempt to let AI see more by maxing it above 100 for all types of mobs, especially those professional soldiers.
Not sure how much you want to allow AI to see, but since player can see anything, until we get FOW, it'd be only fair to give them some properly long values too.
Someone modded PER to great values (10000?) to showcase the effects of it (guard mode cone is longer and wider for high values), so you could attempt to let AI see more by maxing it above 100 for all types of mobs, especially those professional soldiers.
Not sure how much you want to allow AI to see, but since player can see anything, until we get FOW, it'd be only fair to give them some properly long values too.
It worked! Interesting... But the next problem is the size of the map. They are like maybe 150 meters from one side to the other. But we can't fix that for now, can we?
Will experiment with this and increase the enemy's perception a bit.
I really wish there was a chart or something so I can glance at how the weapons have changed.
Like Connor's little graphics, or Wilson's spreadsheet...
I'm not really good creating stuff like that. Besides, I'd rather work on the mod instead of creating fancy pie charts.
Basically, this mod is the same as any other mod that tries to create a realistic balance of the weapons (9mm less powerful then 5.56, 5.56 less powerful then 7.62, etc). The main difference I see is that in my mod weapons get a slightly longer range and do a bit more damage so that the enemies go down a bit quicker. And as of the latest version, I've redone the stance system so that the player can get a rough idea how it works and what stance is best with the current weapon he's wielding. This is possible due to how I change the accuracy of the weapons. You can actually see the accuracy of the weapons in game.
For the next version, I'm planning to beef up the perception of the enemies a bit because even in the vanilla game, you can out range them due to the fact they simply refuse to fire at you until they get within a certain distance.
So, it's quite different to the other mods, I guess.
I'm not really good creating stuff like that. Besides, I'd rather work on the mod instead of creating fancy pie charts.
I assume you have some sort of work files though right? A spreadsheet so you can see the guns you're working on?
It's only ever really important for those of us who are already in the middle of a campaign. We need to know if a mod suddenly renders our current loadout ineffective. In a new game, we'd be buying new toys so it doesn't matter as much.
I assume you have some sort of work files though right? A spreadsheet so you can see the guns you're working on?
It's only ever really important for those of us who are already in the middle of a campaign. We need to know if a mod suddenly renders our current loadout ineffective. In a new game, we'd be buying new toys so it doesn't matter as much.
I've done such rebalance mods before but those were private mods, just for my own pleasure. This is my first public rebalance mod. Anyway, my point is that I've got quite a bit of experience setting up the weapons to (semi) realistic values. The good thing about this game is that it's all arcade, so you only need to know which weapon is more accurate than the other, which does (roughly) more damage, etc. You do not need to know any of the real life values, as that will only give you an information overload, you don't need that much information for this game. What you do need is to find stats that work and make the game fun, that's the important part, after all.
As for your equipment. If you don't like this mod, you can easily switch back to another one! That's the good thing about mods, you get choices. Also, if your weapons suddenly suck compared to some other weapons, then you know that your weapons would suck in real life as well! But probably not, since you use Connor's mod.
I released a beta version for the people interested and/or willing to test version 1.4 beta 1.
It contains adjustments made to the view distance of NPCs. Firefights happen at longer distances, roughly up to 100 meters. I tested a couple of guns and was happy with the balance, but I did not test most guns, so there probably will be balancing issues.
Some things I've observed so far:
- At long range engagements, use cover. Also, bring superior weapons.
- If you are outranged by superior weapons, hide and let them come closer. If you only have short range weapons, it's best to try to get as close as possible before engaging.
- Shotguns lose damage over distance quite rapidly, but they will still stagger you.
The changes in the beta will only kick in after you enter a new sector. At that point new NPCs will spawn who will have the new Perception stats, allowing them to see further.
hi BlackAlpha , this is a very good MOD, more the weapons are real more the game is funny and not easy o unreal. continues to improve the mod . thanks
Version 1.4 Stable has been released. Check first post for info!
Due to the new changes to the AI, engagements will now happen at longer distances, roughly up to twice the range of vanilla settings. This makes the use of cover actually useful, as you want to do everything you can to avoid getting shot. Even if you are outgunned, you can fallback and let the enemy come closer. I actually just did a reverse slope defense using SMGs against rifles and machineguns! The game now reminds me of JA2 and 7.62 High Caliber... Good times, good times...
Next up will be the RPM settings, which dictate how fast mercs can respond with a given weapon. I've been using vanilla Blue Dawn settings for that, but I'm not too happy with them. I suspect Blue Dawn is using realistic RPM settings for the guns, but this makes for pretty unrealistic weapon handling due to how the game mechanics work.
By the way, forgot to say last time. Part of the new stance system is the modification of shooting from the hip. Shooting from the hip is now more accurate to simulate snap shooting from the shoulder. Once we (the modding community) gets there, I'll change the animation to a regular 'taking aim while standing' animation to make it look right. I felt this game seriously needed snap shooting and shooting from the hip isn't that realistic, so I sacrificed it for something I think is more useful.
